PA Senator Daylin Leach inhales on state-funded pot trip

State. Sen. Daylin Leach tours a marijuana production facility in Colorado in this photograph submitted by the senator's office. Submitted

In a guest column submitted to Pennsylvania newspapers titled, "What I learned about legal marijuana in Denver," state Sen. Daylin Leach, a Democrat who represents parts of Delaware and Montgomery counties, describes his recent trip to Colorado to investigate the effects of marijuana legalization in that state.

He wrote that he and three staff members toured two marijuana-growing facilities, two labs where marijuana is processed and two stores where marijuana is sold.

He also sampled the product.

"I haven't smoked for many years," said the proponent of marijuana legalization in Pennsylvania for both medical and recreational purposes.

Leach said he wanted to try out the new technology — vape pens that allow users to inhale a vapor suffused with the intoxicating ingredients of marijuana, but which produce no smoke or odor.

He was also interested in testing the potency of the drug, which he said he'd heard was stronger than during his days in high school.

"I did it in the hotel room the night before we flew home," said Leach, emphasizing it's legal in Colorado.

"I only did two hits," he said, noting he wanted to be sure to remain functional. He said he did not drive after using marijuana.

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Leach said the trip cost about $5,000, including airfare, car rental and hotel for him and three staff members, and the expenses will be charged to his office account. The marijuana vape pen was not charged to taxpayers. Leach spokeswoman Sarah Charles said the pen was a gift from one of the facilities the senator toured.

Leach also visited the headquarters of the National Conference of State Legislators during the trip "to discuss trends in legislation."

Leach has been advocating for the legalization of medical marijuana in Pennsylvania, along with state Sen. Mike Folmer, a Republican whose district was redrawn to include parts of York County. Their legislation, Senate Bill 1182, passed the state Senate Law and Justice Committee on June 27.

Folmer went to Colorado on a separate trip from May 30 to June 1, along with an aide, some medical professionals and others, according to his office. Folmer said he didn't consume any marijuana while in Colorado. As for Leach's sampling of marijuana in Colorado, Folmer said: "He's an adult. He chose what he wanted to do."

Folmer said members of his group paid their own way. He said he went because he wanted to learn more about medical dispensaries and labs where the plant is turned into medicine.

"I've been so careful in focusing in on the medical aspect here," Folmer said, "and I just want to get this bill done because there are a lot of sick people" that could benefit.

He said legalizing recreational marijuana use or decriminalizing it is something people can debate down the road.

In his column, Leach wrote that the purpose of the trip was to "see for ourselves what the complete legalization of cannabis looks like."

He wrote that he liked what he saw: "The bottom line is that we saw a system that is working. The marijuana workforce is professional, skilled, and dedicated to serving their customers. Business is booming to the point that more than one person we talked to likened the coming cannabis explosion to the tech explosion of the '90s."

Leach said he expects medical marijuana to be legalized in Pennsylvania in the near future -- and that recreational legalization here is inevitable as a critical mass of states approve such use via referendum in the next presidential election year — when more young people typically vote.

"It was also clear that Colorado has not turned into a state full of 'stoners,'" Leach wrote. "There is no noticeable change in productivity, absences from work or dropping out of school. If you didn't know marijuana was legal in Colorado, you wouldn't guess it from being out and about in the city."